A constructivist reading of rhetoric and recurrence of political advertisements on TV for the 2010 national election

Abstract

The study determined the rhetoric and recurrence of political ads on TV for the 2010 national election. It made use of content analysis of the twenty-two advertisements for presidential candidates and ten advertisements for vice-presidential candidates. In terms of rhetoric, majority of the political ads use propaganda devices. Of the 7 propaganda devices, glittering generalities rank first with 22 advertisements or 25.89% followed by assertion with 19 advertisements or 21.84% and card stacking with 13 advertisements or 14.94%. Conversely, testimonial and plain folks tied in the number of advertisements with 9 or 10.34% while the least, transfer got 8 advertisements or 9.20% and bandwagon with 7 advertisements or 8.05%. In terms of exposure, most of the political ads aired on television were highly dynamic considering their recurrence in their use of airtime through the duration of their advertisements and the number of advertisements in each candidate. However, in terms of its influence to the candidates winnability, it was noticed that the number and popularity of advertisements are not a guarantee of the winning of a candidate. This was shown in the results of the candidates votes in May 2010 national election.